We know this is super late, but we have some great pictures and videos we want to share from a huge village wedding. I think we've finally figured out the best times to upload to blogger (middle of the night) so hopefully we can catch up soon! Also, video embedding has been rough so I just linked to my vimeo account. Thanks for following our blog.
During training, Dave came to visit and attend a wedding in Anne’s first village. There was quite a bit of activity there. Within the first month, Anne attended a wedding, a three-day family funeral, and a birth party- where women sit around the bed, adoring the new mother and her child, while drinking cinnamon tea with chopped walnuts on top. (Which is a delicious winter drink, by the way!)
Dave stayed with the two male trainees in the village. The wedding was gender segregated as well, but we were able to look at each other before the wedding and Dave was able to attend our class in the village the following day, as well as eat a delicious lunch with my host family and visit at the grandmother’s house- in fancy guest rooms Anne rarely sees. It was wonderful. Our teachers went above and beyond to help us figure out logistics.
{dave looking dapper in his dish dash}
The wedding tents and decorations were being set up a few days in advance and most of the village attends. There were at least several hundred people in attendance. The women welcome the bride and groom and then they have a short ceremony inside with cheering. The groom meets the men and people continue to celebrate within their gender, except for the young children who all stay with the women. We all drink Arabic coffee, eat Mansef, and dance. We were told the women did not dance at this wedding only because the boombox broke. Sad face. But women grabbed Anne by the hand, and led her to watch the men dance while the women talked with each other. There was a lot of happy energy, music, quite a bit of gunfire, kids spraying canned snow, and fireworks. It was interesting to compare the two sides later.
Although we did not attend it, there is traditionally a large engagement party where the woman wears what we can only describe as a Quinceañera dress. The women also have a henna night before the wedding where there is merriment and (obviously) henna application. From what we saw, and from all the wedding pictures Anne has seen, the woman is covered while exiting the car and entering the wedding but then sheds a cocoon-like covering to reveal a white, Western-like wedding gown, fabulous hair, and lots of makeup. Village weddings usually take place within the home of a relative and the party extends to tents.
Mabrook! Congratulations to the beautiful couple! Being married is a very special accomplishment in Jordanian village culture, as well as having children. One of the first things Anne is always asked is if she is married, if she has children, and why not. Woman in the village are generally perplexed as to why Peace Corps would separate couples during training (it was difficult) and not allow children to come along on our assignments.
We are very grateful the family extended the hand-delivered wedding invitations to trainees in the village! Usually, it is just word-of-mouth invites. We have quite a bit of photos and some video from the wedding. Enjoy!
From the women’s side:
{the couple arriving at the house}
{groom helping his bride out of the car}
{all the children and women rush out to greet them}
{here come the bride video: click}
{the videographer is ready}
{women carry expensive, sweet smelling incense, while singing traditional songs}
{this kid has the best job}
{don’t come if you’re claustrophobic}
{trainees and teacher}
{traditional wedding decor}
{host sister on the left, amazing teacher on right}
{anne’s flowers and the children who gave them}
And now from the men’s side:
{as usual, cute friendly kids}
{decor}
{dancing}
click here to see all the videos of:
{adorable dish dash dabka kid}
{solo dancer}
{dabka tutorial}
{toot. toot. it’s a flute!}
{groom, dancing, sword, and gun blast}
{the end?}
After a while Dave and the male volunteers continued dancing, eating seconds of Mansef, and cake, Anne and the women sat freezing whilst eating hard candies. She eventually pulled him away so he could walk her home.
{next day role play in anne’s class}
{walking back to anne’s for lunch}
